Changeable letter sign



Nov. 10, 1931. .E. M. CLARK 1,

' CHANGEABLE LETTER sum Fi led Oct. 6. 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 E M QLHFK IN V EN TOR.

ATTORNEY Nov. 10, 1931. E. M. CLARK CHANGEABLE LETTER SIGN Filed Oct. 6. 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIE-El FIE-E1 INVENTOR.

K M a M 5 A TTORNEY Patented Nov. 10, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFF-ICE; A

EDWARD M. oLARR, or DAVENPORT, IowA, ssIGNo To Lns oLITR ooRroRATIoN, or DAVENPORT, Tow A ooRroRATIoN or IowA v I I oHANGEARLE LETTER SIGN,

Application filed October e, 1928. Serial No. 310,933.

The present invention relates to an electrically lighted sign of the changeable letter type and among the objects thereof are to provide a sign of this type in which the letters may be easily changed; to provlde a sign of the character indicated in which the letters may be removed and replaced with facility or other letters substituted; to provide a sign of the character indicated in which letters of different width may be used equally well so that words or expressions ha'ving a different number of letters Wlll occupy substantially the same space; to provide an improved construction of sign frame of the character indicated; to provide an improved means of connecting the letters so that they may be moved together as a unit; to provide an improved manner of locklng the sign letters together; and such further objects, advantages and capabillties as wlll hereafter appear and as are inherent in the construction disclosed. My invention further resides in the combination, construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings and, while I have shown therein what is now consldered the preferred embodiment of this invention, I

desire the same to be understood as illustra tive only and not as limiting said invention.

R In the drawings annexed hereto and forming a part hereof Fig. 1 is an elevation of a sign constructed in accordance with my 1nvention and showing the use of letters of three different standard widths assembled in channels of the same length, the same being designed to'illustrate the flexibility of this invention in the setting up of advertising matter; Fig. 2 is across section of a sign constructed in accordance with my present invention and illustratingthe mounting of the letters and letter backing members in the sign, Fig. 3' is a fragmentary portion of a word showing the same somewhat enlarged from the showing-in Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a cross :section designed to illustrate the construction and use ofthe locking bars used to fasten the letters together; Fig. 5 is an edge l view of one of the corner elements of the frame; Fig. 6 is an enlargedview of two of therefore unnecessary to give this construc-...

the letters to illustrate how these are tied together by the keys or tie elements; Fig, 7 is a section substantially along .th'eplane indicated by the line 7-7;, Fig. 6; Figs. 8 and-9 are perspective views-of one of the elements of this construction variously referred .to as keys, locking keys, tie elements or holding bars; Fig. 10 is a perspective View. of a letter illustrating the edge flanges thereof.

Referring more in detail to theannexed drawings, numerals 1 denote the top and bottom rails of a sign and numeral 2 the end rails of the same, constructed in accordance with my inventionThese rails are secured together by means-of cornerpieces 3 which;

tional shape as the front portions of the rails themselves; At the inner edges, these corners are turned inwardly to form hooks .4: which are hooked over the inner edges 5 of. the rails, these parts thus being securely fastened together at this point. The outer portions of these corners have flanges .6 formed thereon which are drawn tightly against the outer portions 7 of the rails by means of the metal screws. 8 which are screwed through'the flanges of the corners 3 andthe outer edges 7 of the rails. The'construction of the rails themselves iscovered in my prior Patent No. 1,638,654 issuedAugust 9, 1927, and therefore neednot be given in greater detail in this case. A

1 The construction of the horizontal rails 9 is shown most clearly in Fig. 2'from which it is seen'that these horizontal rails have a fiat portion facing outwardly in the direction that the sign faces and that the horizontaledges are then turned inwardly, downwardly, in-

wardly, upwardly and downwardly at the topedge'or inwardly, upwardly, inwardly, downwardly and upwardly at the-bottom edge. This construction is shown more in detail in in prior application Serial 2 No. 217,431 filed eptember 3, 1927. It is tion'more in detail. It will be noted, however, that the innertportion of the channel forming part extends beyondthe outer portion so as to make it easy to insertiand're-c move the letters and theirbackingslwithout be inserted into the upper channels, pushed in until they strike the upwardly extended concavity, recess or depression 21 upon the to the danger of pushing same into the inside of the sign. Cross bars 10 extend across between opposite bars 9 and are secured thereto, these cross bars carrying sockets 11 in which are mounted electric lights 12, having suitable connections with a source of electric power so that they may be lighted.

The upper rail 1 has a downwardly opening channel 13, the inner member 14: of which extends farther toward the lower rail than,

does the inner edge of the rail itself, thus serving as a guiding means for the backing members 15 for the letters 16'. These backing members 15 \vardly beyond the edge of its rail. It will thus be seen that the member 14 serves to guide the sign characters into the channel 13, while the members 17 serve as a stop to limit the inward motion of the sign characters and wall of the sign and dropped inside. The

prevent them from being forced through the upper channels 13 are deeper than the lower channels, both in the upper and lower rails and in the horizontal bar 9 which are provided with the same sort of channels as the rails. Such a sign may be built for a single row of letters, if desired, or for any number of rows. The sign illustrated in this application is constructed to-hold three lines of words. It will be seen from the illustration and description that the sign characters may members 17 of the lower channels and then permitted to drop into place. Since the upper channels are deeper than the lower channels, the upper edges ofthe sign characters willnot be released from the channels 13 but will be held therein.

In order to hold the letters of a word together and keep them from being moved lengthwise of the sign, relatively to each other, the letters themselves are provided along their vertical edges with outwardly extended flanges 18, and cross bars 19, having substantially the same height as the letters,

are so shaped that they can be applied to theletters to hold them together. In doing this, a central portion 20 is pressed outwardly from the plane of the cross bar to form a back side of the bar and extending a larger what the length of the flanges on the edges of the letters so that the upper end of. the bar or key may be shoved into the upper channel the word until full depth thereof and then the lower end of the bar swung inwardly against the a faces of the letters, with the flanges 18 in theconcavity 21. The cross bars or keys are then moved downwardly until the lower ends strike the bottoms of the lower channels. In this way, the letters are held firmly together because of the fact that the width of the concavity 21 is substantially the same as twice the thickness of the metal of which the letters are made. This arrangement will permit the word or words of the sign to be shoved lengthwise thereof until the proper set-up is secured: Filler blanks 22 are put in between the words and at the ends thereof to take up whatever blank space is left. lVith this arrangement, a letter may be omitted at the beginning or end of the word or anywhere in the filler plates 22 have been put in place. The letters are then shoved over, if necessary until they are in proper positions and then the missing letter is inserted and the two cross bars 19 put in to tie the letters and plates 22 together, making a substantially continuous word or words, the letters of which can not be shifted relatively to each other without removing the bars 19. Also, these bars 19 are prevented from accidental lateral displacement by reason of the fact that the flanges 18 extend into the concavity 21.

- Another feature of this invention is the fact that letters having the same height but.

diiferent breadths are provided so that a larger or smaller number of sign characters may be gotten into agiven space. This is well illustrated in Fig.1 in which the words Hot Cross Buns having twelve letters, separated by spacer plates. 22 into three Words occupy substantially the same space as the word Pastry in the lower line, this latter word having six letters. In the middle line is a word of nine letters. At both ends of each line are filler plates of appropriate widths vwhich fill up the space not occupied by the" letters.

It is believed the'construction and opera'- tion' of this device will be evident from the foregoing description, taken in connection with the annexed drawings.

It is of course understood that the specific description of structure set forth above may be departed from without departing from v the spirit of my invention as set forth in this specification and the appended claims.

Having now described my invention, I claim: 7 v

1. In a sign of the character indicated, top, -i bottom,and end rails having channels facing inwardly, substantially horizontal rails di- III sign, and holding bars having substantially flat ends and longitudinal channels formed J in the bodies of the bars intermediate the flat portions, said bars being adapted to be applied to sign characters mounted in the receiving spaces and tie them together against relative separation. V

2; An element of a changeable letter sign comprising a letter holding element having a generally fiat body portion provided with an elongated groove extending lengthwise of the body but terminating short of the ends thereof, said groove being adapted to receive projecting portions of adjacent letters soas to be secured thereto for movement therewith. c

3. In a sign of the character indicated, top, bottom, and end rails having channels facing inwardly, substantially horizontal rails dividing theopen space of the sign into substantially equal sign character receiving spaces,

sign characters of substantially the same height and diiferent widths mounted in the channels to build words of substantially the same length but containing different numbers of letters, the sign characters having projections along their adjacent edges, said projections being spaced from the top and bottom of the letters to permit application of holding means thereto when the characters have been put in place in the channel, and holding means attached to said projections to hold the characters together.

4. In a sign of the character indicated, top, bottom, and end rails having channels facing inwardly, substantially horizontal rails dividing the open space of the sign into substantially equal sign characterreceiving spaces, sign characters of substantially the same height and different widths mounted in the channels to build words of substantially the same length but containing different numbers 7 of letters, said sign characters having projections adjacent their edges extending transversely to the thickness of the characters, andholding bars having channels extending part way between their ends and adapted to engage said projections to hold adjacent sign characters against separation from each other. I

5. In a sign of the character indicated, letters having flanges at the lateral edges thereof, said flanges being turned forwardly at a substantial angle to the body of the letter and terminating short of the top and bottom of the letters, in combination with tie elements whereby theletters may be secured to each other, said'tie elements having flat ends and sides and having a longitudinal channel for the reception of flanges upon the edges of two adjacent letters, the fiat ends of the tie elements resting against the upper and channel lowerpo'rtions of the letters and being insertable with the letters into the same channels astheletters. I i

y 6. In a changeable letter sign, cut-out letters having outwardly turned flanges adja-;

cent opposite lateral edges thereof, in combinationwith locking bars whereby the letters may be locked to each other, said bars being elongated and generally flat but having a groove formed in the rear face by pressingthe metal forwardly to form an elongated channel, generally V-shaped in cross section, and a frame having channels for the reception of the upper and lower edges of the letters and the ends of the locking bars. 7 In a changeable letter sign, a letter holding element formed from fiat stock, said element having flat ends capable of being received'in letter holding channels along with the letters, said element alsohaving a longi-. tudinal channel in the body thereof, said extending between the flat ends and being of a width to tightly hold the edges of two letters or blanks together, the letters and blanks being provided with projections to enter the channel of the holding element.

8. A key for securing letters or blanks in the channels of a changeable letter sign frame, said'key having flat ends and sides and having a hollow longitudinal rib located between the flat sides and extending between the flat ends in combination with sign characters having forwardly projecting members to enter same length but containing different numbers of letters, said sign characters having proj ections at part of their edges extending transverselylof the body thereof for cooperation with holding bars, and holding bars having substantially flat ends and longitudinal channels formed in the bodies of the bars intermediate the flat portions, said bars being adapted to be applied to' sign characters mounted in the receiving spaces and tie them together against relative separation, a

- 10. In a sign of the character described,, stencil letters having outwardly turned; flanges adjacent opposite lateral edges there of, the flanges being cut away from the up per and lower portions of the edges of the letter,'in combination with looking bars hav-i ing depressions to receive the outwardly pro jeeting flanges, said bars" being flat adjacent their ends and overlying the abutting edges of the letters to close the openings between same.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name to this specification.

EDWARD M. CLARK. 

